1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing devices which print images on a print medium. In particular, the present invention is a printer which includes a memory which stores a printer profile parameter which is utilized by the host computer to control the printer based on the printer profile parameter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional ink jet printers have either a single print head arrangement or multiple print head arrangement for printing. In the latter case, printing speed of image data is increased using the multiple print head design. For example, U.S. Pat. No, 4,272,771 discloses an example of a method which increases the print speed of serial image printing by using two print heads, one to print the left half of a printed line and the other to print the right half of a printed line, both halves being printed simultaneously. To achieve this result, left and right print head assemblies are supported by a common carriage mechanism. As a result, print speed is approximately doubled over that of a single print head device.
In both single print head printers and multiple print head printers, the print heads and ink cartridges which provide the ink output from the print heads are both interchangeable and disposable. For example, a black cartridge may be exchanged for a cyan, magenta and yellow (CMY) cartridge and vice versa. Additionally, there are ink cartridges which provide different printing effects, such as a photo-style ink cartridge which provides photograph-like qualities and pigment ink cartridges which provide different printing effects.
Because print heads become clogged or partially dysfunctional over time, print heads are designed to be replaced. Depending on the cartridge and manufacturer, the ink cartridge and print head are combined so that the entire ink cartridge and print head can be replaced when the ink runs out.
While it is convenient to replace or to exchange ink cartridges and print heads of an ink jet printer, this convenience brings with it problems due to physical differences between inks and print heads. For example, because each ink and each manufactured print head may be from different manufacturing lots, the inks and print heads may have different physical characteristics. These variations in physical characteristics in print heads alter print head alignment from one print head to the next. Similarly, variations in physical characteristics of ink will vary output image density. As a result of these variations, unwanted variations occur in the printed document.
As may be appreciated, this problem is compounded when using two or more print heads. For example, in the case that one print head is printing the left half of a print line in a document and the other print head is printing the right half of a print line in a document, if the two print heads are not aligned, the misalignment will be quite noticeable. In the case that the same color ink is being used by both print heads and the ink densities of both print heads do not match, the varied image densities will be quite noticeable in the printed document.
In view of the varied output from each print head, it is desirable to know a print head's alignment, ink density, as well as other print head characteristics which may affect printing so that these variations may be compensated for before printing.
On the other hand, in the system of a host computer and a printer, if the information of the characteristics of the printing, which depends on the current status of the printer, is stored in the memory of the host computer, when the printer is separated from the host computer and connected to another computer, the new computer can not use the information stored in the former computer.
Further, a conventional printer does not remember the condition change of the printer after power-off. Therefore, for example, if the power of the printer has been off after the change to a new print head, the printer can not understand whether it should make a cleaning operation or not.